1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control method, a control device, and a printing system. Specifically, the invention relates to a printing control method that utilizes a control device connected to multiple printing devices that print images on recording media. The printing devices print the images based on printing data. The present invention also relates to a control device to which the printing control method is applicable, and a printing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally known printing systems involve multiple printing devices arranged in a network. In this kind of printing system, a technique has been proposed in which the printing devices execute one printing job in a parallel manner in order to improve productivity (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 5-73232).
When the parallel process is executed in the printing devices, for example, if a printing job is such that one image is printed to be output on multiple pieces of paper, one image is printed by all of the printing devices so that multiple printed results of the image can be instantly obtained. In the case of a printing job in which multiple pages are printed and output, the printing devices that print and output the pages can be switched. For example, if the printing devices are switched per page according to monochrome or color, the printing results of multiple pages can be instantly obtained. When the parallel process is executed by the printing devices, it is preferable that image outputs with uniform quality can be obtained.
Nonetheless, the finish effects of the images, such as color shade and printing condition such as image recorded positions on recording media such as paper, differ from printing device to printing device. For this reason, with devices in conventional printing systems, it is necessary to take the printing condition of each image into consideration and execute a Raster Image Processor (RIP) process on the printing data so as to convert the printing data into bit map data.
When performing the parallel process, the RIP process must be executed on the same printing data in each of the printing devices, thereby lowering productivity. Further, since functions for executing the RIP process are required in the printing devices, this prevents the printing devices from being simplified. Particularly, data such as character fonts need to be preinstalled for the RIP process, and this kind of data is expensive. As a result, providing printing devices with functions for executing the RIP process is disadvantageous in terms cost.